Issued:

2011-12-06

Updated:

2011-12-06

RHBA-2011:1608 - biosdevname bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

biosdevname bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory (none)

Topic

An updated biosdevname package that fixes several bugs and adds various enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The biosdevname package contains an optional convention for naming network interfaces; it assigns names to network interfaces based on their physical location. The package is disabled by default, except for a limited set of Dell PowerEdge, C Series and Precision Workstation systems.

The biosdevname package has been upgraded to upstream version 0.3.11, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. (BZ#696203)

This update fixes the following bugs:

• When NPAR (NIC Partitioning) is enabled, the partition number should be appended as a suffix to the interface name. Previously, biosdevname did not add partition numbers to interface names, for example, instead of naming an interface "em3_1", the interface was named "em3". Consequently, partitioned network interfaces were missing the suffix necessary to describe the partition. Now, biosdevname correctly recognizes the VPD (Vital Product Data) suffix and full interface names are created correctly. (BZ#700248)

• When biosdevname ran in a guest environment, it suggested names to new network interfaces as if it was in a host environment. Consequently, affected network interfaces were incorrectly renamed. Now, biosdevname no longer suggests names in the described scenario. (BZ#700251)

• When biosdevname was reading VPD information to retrieve NPAR-related data, the read operations failed or became unresponsive on certain RAID controllers. Additionally, biosdevname sometimes attempted to read beyond the VPD boundary in the sysfs VPD file, which also resulted in a hang. This bug has been fixed and biosdevname now performs the read operation correctly in the described scenarios. (BZ#729591)

• Previously, the "--smbios" and "--nopirq" command-line parameters were missing in the biosdevname binary. Consequently, consistent network device naming could not be enabled because biosdevname exited without suggesting a name. This update adds support for these parameters and enables the device naming. (BZ#739592)

• Previously, NICs (Network Interface Cards) on biosdevname-compatible machines were given traditional "eth*" names instead of "em*" or "pp" names. This bug has been fixed and biosdevname now provides correct names for the NICs. (BZ#740532)

This update adds the following enhancements:

• With this update, "--smbios" and "--nopirq" command-line parameters have been added to biosdevname. (BZ#696252)

• The biosdevname man page has been updated to explain the functionality of the "--smbios" and "--nopirq" command-line parameters. (BZ#736442)

Users of biosdevname are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which fixes these bugs and adds these enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• biosdevname-0.3.11-1.el6.src.rpm
• biosdevname-debuginfo-0.3.11-1.el6.i686.rpm
• biosdevname-debuginfo-0.3.11-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
• biosdevname-0.3.11-1.el6.i686.rpm
• biosdevname-0.3.11-1.el6.x86_64.rpm

Fixes

(none)

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information

• The Red Hat security contact is This content is not included.secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.
• Offline Security Data data is available for integration with other systems. See Offline Security Data API to get started.